The present invention is directed to a damping system for a thermal imaging camera. More particularly, the present invention is directed to an internal damping system for a thermal imaging camera to provide an adequate ability to withstand shock and vibration that would come under strenuous use of the camera, for example, when a camera is dropped.
Prior thermal imaging cameras have used rigid foam for both positioning and protection of the core of a thermal imaging camera. The rigid foam provides a basic form of protection but cannot withstand repeated impact since the rigid foam has substantially no memory to rebound to original shape or position. Use of flexible foam improves the memory abilities but does not have any real damping capabilities.
Numerous patent documents disclose padding (including for use as insulation) or shock absorbing in general. For example, International Publication No. WO 2004/062273 (Raytheon Company) teaches a system for effecting temperature control in a camera which includes an outer housing having a thermally insulating foam material between the housing and its camera core. However, use of the foam material appears to be only for thermal insulation purposes, not for damping.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,008 (Thornton et al.) is directed to a radiation temperature sensor. The sensor includes a housing having insulating plastic foam surrounding it. An outer shell surrounds the plastic foam. The foam is poured through vent holes in the rear of the outer shell. The foam appears to be for insulation purposes. No shock or vibration appears to be mentioned.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,721 (Schelling et al.) is directed to a protective housing for a consumer camera which includes a pouch for containing the camera. The pouch is constructed to be a waterproof, shock absorbent protective housing constructed of rubber or a plastic, flexible, resilient, waterproof, shock absorbing material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,522 (Reber, II) is directed to a protective housing for a consumer camera that includes a pouch for containing the camera constructed from a flexible material that is flexible enough to allow the camera to be operated through the material. The pouch has an external U-shaped holder constructed from rubber or a flexible material that is thicker and less flexible than the pouch material to provide shock absorption for a camera.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,559 (Balling et al.) is directed to a camera having a protective outer housing with a shock damping insert. Here, a one-piece shock-damping elastomeric member is placed over the front, top and rear of an inner housing. A protective outer housing is placed over the inner housing and the elastomeric member.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,180 (Jabbour et al.) is directed to a camera having a flexible shell. The flexible shell protects the camera from damage. The shutter of the camera is triggered by a mechanism that is operated by deforming the flexible shell.
Numerous patent documents owned by Mine Safety Appliances Company by Thomas Salapow are directed to a thermal imaging camera and include shock-resistance features. See International Publication No. WO 01/65834, U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0195562, U.S. Design Pat. No. D464,666, U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,473, U.S. Pat. No. 6,649,912 and U.S. Patent Application No. U.S. 2001/0046385. As can be seen, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,473, there is shown a thermal imaging camera having resilient material placed over or around all projecting portions of the thermal imaging camera such that when the thermal imaging camera is contacted with a plane, the resilient material will first contact the plane regardless of the orientation of the thermal imaging camera relative to the plane. The housing has the resilient materials surrounding the sides, front end and rear end and bottom of the battery compartment. The resilient material may be in the form of elastomeric bumpers that have shock absorbing properties. The resilient bumpers are shown, for example, at call outs 430, 530 and 730 of FIG. 7.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,775 (along with U.S. Design Pat. D472,911 and D479,548) (assigned to Bullard) is directed to a portable thermal imaging camera having shock-absorbing features.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,956,610 (Walls) is directed to a shock mounting system for a CCD camera. Here, an elastomeric boot is molded to fit between the CCD camera assembly and its housing.
Numerous patent documents are directed to internal protection of thermal imaging cameras. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,998 (Tanaka et al.) is directed to a mechanical shock absorbing device for a camera. Here, a shock absorbing device that acts on a shock resulting from movement includes a counterweight that has greater inertial mass than a moving body. A drive moves the counterweight and moving body in synch with each other. This device is used to absorb shock from a shutter in the camera.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,237 (Adermann et al.) is directed to a protective camera housing designed to protect a film or video camera while it films in close proximity to a blast in an underground mine or other destructive environment. A shock absorbing gasket between all body plates and chassis members and rubber mounting pods give protection against explosion debris and blast shock waves.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,302 (Yokota) is directed to a camera that includes a structural body composed of a plurality of integrally coupled functional components. Slender rods extend between the structural body and a cover. The slender rods are rigid enough to position the structural body and a cover with respect to each other, and flexible enough to be elastically deformable when shocks are applied to them.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,856,811 (Shih et al.) is directed to a visual display and helmet assembly configured to function in the presence of a harsh environment including vibration and shock.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,775 (Bielefeld et al.), noted above, is directed to a portable TIC having a shock absorbing lens mount that minimizes the transfer of impact forces to its lens. The lens of the TIC is encased in a circumferential grommet and then received in the cavity defined by the housing such that the lens is essentially suspended within the cavity. Since the lens is suspended, little or no force is translated to the lens if the TIC is dropped or otherwise impacted. No other shock absorbing or damping features are described in this patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,956,610 (Walls) is directed to a shock mounting system for a CCD camera. The system comprises a pair of support plates for spanning the junctions between the various components (prisms, etc.) of a standard CCD camera. An elastomeric boot is molded to fit between the CCD camera assembly and its housing.
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.